Thursday, September 18, 2014

Recently,
I had the opportunity to attend a talk by the erudite
historian Peter Marshall with the intriguing full title After
Purgatory: Death and Remembrance in the Reformation World at
the SFU Harbour Centre.
I was quite impressed with the material as I find history of
religion, particularly the divide between Catholics and Prostestants,
most intriguing. In addition, the speaker not only showed knowledge
and expertise alongside humour and humility, but most importantly, he
was able to answer my questions in a clear and elaborate manner.

Since
there were -- rather unfortunately -- not too many people attending
and I had chosen the third row of seats being solitary in my own
aisle, I must have been quite visible. Normally this would not pose a
problem, but I have recently started taking notes on my iPhone. I
looked around and noticed that others, perhaps more
professional-looking people, had chosen the old-fashioned form of the
scribbling pen on blank notebooks.

However
that kind of note-taking is more cumbersome, less legible, and it does
not have the auto-correct option. Although the latter can at times be
annoying with its farfetched and illogical suggestions, I find it
helps me save time, so I end up typing faster. The downside is the
negative stigma attached to iPhones: it might seem that I was texting
and not paying attention.

In
this case, it was quite the opposite, and, incidentally, my phone was
out of service for some odd reason, which made texting or surfing the
Internet literally impossible. At one point during the talk, I felt
compelled to make that matter clear to all the attendees present, but
that would have made me look even weirder in their eyes.

But
enough preamble about me and let us get to the meat of this brilliant
and informative talk. The starting point and focus was how the
Protestant movement got rid of the notion of Purgatory, which brought
about a number of religious, social, and political changes regarding
the outlook on death, its significance for people's lives as well as
funeral practices.

With
the abolition of Purgatory, it meant that there could be no change in
the afterlife. So if you were damned or saved, it had already been
decided by your life previously in this world; there was no
in-between in the afterlife. As a result, it would become useless to
pray for the departed since it was too late for any kind of changes
anyway.

In
such a situation, death becomes a more crucial and singular event
that terminates life once and for all and for better or for worse.
That also puts one's life more into focus; it becomes more important
regarding salvation. In existential terms, it means that you have one
shot at it, and if you miss the mark, i.e. spiritual salvation, there
is absolutely no going back and no reconsideration. No pressure, but
it is merely the slight difference between eternal bliss or
never-ending pain and suffering.

This
sudden disconnect between life and death, and ipso facto, with the
living and the dead affected and changed the funeral practices as
well. While previous to the Reformation, tombs would be prospective,
namely looking forward toward the life that was ahead after death,
the Protestant tombs were retrospective
and mostly individual, looking back at the life and accomplishments
of the deceased in question.

In
this way, the tombstones acquire and gain a more biographical and
existential tone. You are responsible for your own success or
failures and this world is the playing field in which you need to
show and prove yourself. No more reliance on goodwill and wishes of
others or of saints carrying you towards heaven. You got to do this
on your own merits.

All
of this also meant that funeral practices changed. Funeral sermons
now were less about the dead and the afterlife, but more about
teaching a lesson to those who were still living. Funerals were
indeed a good way to teach about the doctrine of death, that each of
us may be called before the Almighty and that we ought to be ready at
all times with a calm mind and a peaceful heart.

One
of the interesting differences between the Catholic and the
Protestant viewpoints was the representation of Christ; his suffering
was highlighted by Catholics, but with Protestants his redeeming
aspects tended to be promoted instead.

Another
difference was also the simplicity and minimalism – to use an
anachronistic word for the sake of it - of the funeral practices when
it came to the Protestants. No music should be played and sung, and
in fact, prayers for the dead were generally discouraged. Also, even
Protestant leaders like Calvin were buried with no pomp or
circumstance; according to his own wishes, he found himself in an
unmarked grave (more on this a bit later).

Another
interesting tidbit was regarding the type and manner of death.
Generally speaking, people considered a “good death” as something
to be aimed for but also as a way to validate one's life and
salvation. For example, if you died painlessly and unawares in your
sleep, it may seem that you were blessed. But if you underwent a
painful, excruciating death, that meant, according to popular beliefs
at the time, that you were probably not going to make it very far
even in the afterlife.

Striving
to have a peaceful and dignified end was also seen as a confirmation
that God was with you. One's own serenity towards death was equally
an important factor. So even in matters of death, it became important
to control oneself and to pray that it would be quick and painless.
And those famous last words may ring through eternity for and by other
generations to come in this world, so you'd better make them
significant and meaningful.

Marshall
also mentioned the Protestant belief that death may appear like a
sleep in transition towards resurrection when both soul and body
would reunite. In this case, the dead were ideally given a proper
burial with their feet facing the East, where Jesus would return in
Jerusalem, and the face of the deceased looking upward so that the
dead would simply arise without any difficulties.

This
also made the punishment for suicide, heresies or any other misdeeds
that led to ex-communication a more grave matter beyond this life of
ours. A person who had committed suicide, for example, would be left
on the crossroads, which is supposed to be confusing for the soul and
where the devil usually resides. This view of death also led to
horrible acts of mutilation of the deceased in a number of wars and
conflicts, which were gruesome both in actual and symbolic fashion.

All
of this raised interesting questions regarding the manifestation of
spirits, which Protestants believed to be not incarnations of the
person but rather a plaything of demons to confuse humans. Their
reasoning was simple: the dead were either in heaven or hell and
either way would not be able to travel back to Earth.

This was also
the main reason why Hamlet was not sure whether he was confronted
with the ghost of his own father or whether it was a trick put on by
a maleficent demon or goblin. However, in most cases, popular
opinion sided on the fact that they were indeed real ghosts of the
departed.

Then
there was the question period, and I could not resist. My question
was two-fold. One was about the fact that Protestant belief with the
negation of Purgatory seems to be more pessimistic and fatalistic
than the Catholic view. It took away hope for those who might fall in
the middle ground and sent them straight either to heaven or hell.

Marshall
answered the question by assuring me that Purgatory with all its
perks was not necessarily cheery or hopeful as it involved burning
and torture for thousands of years. Secondly, Protestants often had
the (false?) assurance –- commonly referred to as predestination or divine grace -- that they were already saved and that gave them hope
and confidence for the life to come.

My
second question was how the soul could find the body in the
particular case of Calvin who was buried in an unmarked grave. How
would his soul recognize his own body if there was no name attached
to it? Here Marshall claimed that Protestants also believed that the
soul would already know and recognize the body wherever it might be,
even if it were devoured by a cannibal who in turn had been eaten by
a lion. Good to know.

So,
all in all, I was fascinated by this talk and for the span of an hour
and a half had become completely oblivious to my own problem of not
having any service or signal during the whole afternoon. This is one
of the main downsides of living in a developed world where if you do
not have an Internet connection you are as good as dead. And even Purgatory won't save you then!